Reading Autumn Term, by Antonia Forest
Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 05:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mothwingCrocky and I are reading Autumn Term by Antonia Forest together at the moment, taking turn with reading out loud and doing crafty things or playing games while the other is reading. It's a great way to spend the holidays, and I love reading books with her.
45.
Both of us have a literature crush on Rowan, enough of a crush to try and get hold of the the other copies through our library system from Great Britain, because all the other instalments are out of print and to get them I'd have to pay £90 for the first edition paper backs.
We were so endeared by the interactions and the characters that we started awarding favourability points for the characters and started plotting in this chart with reference to the scene which scored each character points as favourites.
It became very obvious very early on that Rowan was going to win by a LOT.
So, the book is a real gem, as boarding school novels go, and I do not understand why the other instalments had to sink into obscurity that they are out of print while this one has become a classic.
45.
Autumn Term, by Antonia Forest.
It's one of the Faber Children's Classics, and it is utterly awesome. Even though I had the feeling that it must have been published a hundred years before it actually was published, it is a really enjoyable read.
It describes the first term at school of the twins Nick and Lawrie, who join their four older sisters at an all-girls boarding school. Instead of immediately making IIIA like all their sisters did, they are downgraded to the Third Remove because they were not able to learn a lot at home due to various illnesses. Their attempts to shine like their siblings generally end in dismay, until one of their friends decides to write, direct and produce a stage-play for the school's open day, The Prince and the Pauper, in which the twins receive main roles and which earns them a lot of recognition.
The plot is not really the main reason to enjoy this book, but the all-girls boarding school thing got me, as well as the absolutely wonderful characters and the author's style.The interaction between the sibling is very spot on, the language is pretty, the characterisation is subtle and the characters are lovely. Even though I can't say I am interested in Lawrie and Nick a lot, it's still fun reading their exploits, even though I am more interested in their siblings, especially Kay and Rowan.
Both of us have a literature crush on Rowan, enough of a crush to try and get hold of the the other copies through our library system from Great Britain, because all the other instalments are out of print and to get them I'd have to pay £90 for the first edition paper backs.
We were so endeared by the interactions and the characters that we started awarding favourability points for the characters and started plotting in this chart with reference to the scene which scored each character points as favourites.
It became very obvious very early on that Rowan was going to win by a LOT.
| Character | Points |
| Giles | II |
| Peter | |
| Rowan | IIIIIIII |
| Ginty (Virginia) | |
| Anne | |
| Karen (Kay) | IIII |
| Laurie (Lawrence) | |
| Nick (Nicola) | |
| Tim (Thalia) | I |
| Marie | I |
| Father | I |
| Ms Keith | I |
| Ms Jennings | II |
Passages and lines we enjoyed:
Rowan
"Do you mean I might have been killed?" said Nicola incredulously.
"It comes within the bounds of possibility," Rowan looked down at Nicola sardonically. "Not, of course that any of us would mind much. What's one more or less, in a family of our size?"
Rowan
"Do you want to know what she [Miss Keith] said about you?")
[Rowan:] "On the whole not, I think. My relationship with Miss Keith is what you might call delicately balanced on a razor edge of mutual toleration. I wouldn't like to do anything to upset it."
Tim
"But I'm her niece," said Tim. She grinned cheerfully. "Bless me, if I can't take one of my own aunty's pears-"
"Four," corrected Nicola."
"Five," said Tim. "I've had one before you came down. [...]"
Tim
"I only knew French and German," said Tim serenely, "and I knew Aunt Edith didn't expect me to know any more so I didn't bother. It was a nice restful afternoon."
Tim
"But I like pears for breakfast," protested Tim gently.
"Perhaps you do. But that's the rule."
"Perhaps I'd better ask Aunt Edith about it," suggested Tim.
"Is that your guardian? Because if so, and she particularly wants you to have fruit for breakfast, I should ask her to write to Miss Keith."
"It is Miss Keith," said Tim carefully.
Tim -1
After Pomona has remarked that she needs to sit close to the light because of her eyes:
"Why, Pippin?" asked Tim, "Are they your only beauty?"
Tim -1
Because Tim said she would write her nicknames of Pomona on the board each week so the class would know what to call Pomona this week.
Kay
Kay, coming in when the twins and Tim are fighting with Pomona and Mary about who gets to sit in front, especially for the shiny new desk in the front row.
"If you have the place in front, she can have the desk."
Rowan
Out of pure perseverity, Lawrie said, it rained regularly the first two weeks every Tuesday and Thursday, simply, said Lawrie, because those were the afternoons on which the Thirds played games. It also rained, as Rowan pointed out, an occasional Wednesday and Friday when the school teams were supposed to practice.
Rowan
"Nice for us," said Rowan laconically. "Anyway, it looks fine today. You ought to get your run in the park this afternoon."
"We're not dogs," said Nicola with dignity.
"N-no," said Rowan doubtfully. "Though when you haven't combed your hair there's a distinct resemblance."
Marie
For standing up for Pomona, even though her entire year is against her.
Father
“Not bad,” commented their father, skimming the forms, “they mostly confine themselves to remarking that you've made a good start; and one good lady bursts into paeans of joy and says that Nicola mines with enthusiasm.”
Rowan:
“Character training,” said Karen and Rowan simultaneously; and Rowan continued laconically: “Redmond and Craven are great on it. They're always getting together and saying: Now, what about soandso? Lacks confidence in herself, doesn't she? Skips out of the way if she sees a ball within a mile of her. Good: let's stick her in the First Eleven!”
Ms Keith
Ms Keith looked up sharply.
"You mean that these stalls have been given to you because you are in Third Remove?" [...]
"What play had you in mind?"
Giles:
For dealing with the twins when they feel mobbed and for taking them seriously
Giles:
"O.K.," said GIles soothingly. "You be bad, then. And drop me a line every now and then. I'd like to know how you get on."
Ms Jennings
For helping the Third Remove with their backgrounds and being so supportive.
Ms Jennings
... and her attention to detail:
"Then you'd better make a separate wooden stand for your tavern sign and I'll draw you several different ones. I don't suppose many of the audience will notice, but it will amuse those who do."
Karen, Rowan
After the twins big triumph in the absolutely marvellous play:
Karen remarking with an air of detachment that one could never tell with Thirds - most of the time they were abysmal, and then, just occasionally, they brought off a quite amazing fluke; and Rowan laughed, offering a plate of sandwiches ("two only and no cakes until the visitors leave") and said they were superb,stupendous, colossal and all in glorious Technicolour;
Rowan
"[Tim] wrote it, too. At least, she called it "adapting" it. Like they do for films, you know."
"Did she?" said Rowan. "And what did you do with Cartwright while all this was going on? Lock her in the stationery cupboard?"
Karen
"No," said Nicola vaguely. "Tim just kept her off. She wasn't any bother."
Karen and Rowan looked at one another.
"Produced it -" said Rowan.
"Wrote it - " said Karen.
"Press-ganged Lois Sanger - "
"And saw that her form mistress gave no trouble," concluded Karen. "Next term someone had better keep a very special eye on T. Keith."
"Why?" asked Lawrie.
"Dangerous," said Karen, grinning at her father. "Organising ability highly developed. Too much spare time owing to present position in school. Highly explosive combination unless superfluous energy directed into constructive channels."
Rowan
"The Sixth are cutting sandwiches madly in the kitchen," said Rowan, carefully lowering two plates, piled high on the platform and giving Lois a stiff little smile which somehow managed to convey congratulation without liking. "So I thoguht you people had better have first pick. One lot's spam and the other's sandwich spread, but I've forgotten which is which."
Thrid remove, who had not, even in their most confident moments, supposed they would rise to the heights of being waited on by Rowan Marlow, murmured their thanks and looked overcome.
Lawrie and Ann in my book
I would have liked to take points from the twins at times, Lawrie's for being so annoying under stress and obsessing about the play to such a degree, but refrained from it because I did not really want anyone to have negative numbers. Otherwise Ann and Lawrie would probably have ended up with minus three points each in my book.
Crocky could sympathise with Lawrie's feelings about the play, but Ann probably still should have received a negative number for being such a hen.
Rowan
"Do you mean I might have been killed?" said Nicola incredulously.
"It comes within the bounds of possibility," Rowan looked down at Nicola sardonically. "Not, of course that any of us would mind much. What's one more or less, in a family of our size?"
Rowan
"Do you want to know what she [Miss Keith] said about you?")
[Rowan:] "On the whole not, I think. My relationship with Miss Keith is what you might call delicately balanced on a razor edge of mutual toleration. I wouldn't like to do anything to upset it."
Tim
"But I'm her niece," said Tim. She grinned cheerfully. "Bless me, if I can't take one of my own aunty's pears-"
"Four," corrected Nicola."
"Five," said Tim. "I've had one before you came down. [...]"
Tim
"I only knew French and German," said Tim serenely, "and I knew Aunt Edith didn't expect me to know any more so I didn't bother. It was a nice restful afternoon."
Tim
"But I like pears for breakfast," protested Tim gently.
"Perhaps you do. But that's the rule."
"Perhaps I'd better ask Aunt Edith about it," suggested Tim.
"Is that your guardian? Because if so, and she particularly wants you to have fruit for breakfast, I should ask her to write to Miss Keith."
"It is Miss Keith," said Tim carefully.
Tim -1
After Pomona has remarked that she needs to sit close to the light because of her eyes:
"Why, Pippin?" asked Tim, "Are they your only beauty?"
Tim -1
Because Tim said she would write her nicknames of Pomona on the board each week so the class would know what to call Pomona this week.
Kay
Kay, coming in when the twins and Tim are fighting with Pomona and Mary about who gets to sit in front, especially for the shiny new desk in the front row.
"If you have the place in front, she can have the desk."
Rowan
Out of pure perseverity, Lawrie said, it rained regularly the first two weeks every Tuesday and Thursday, simply, said Lawrie, because those were the afternoons on which the Thirds played games. It also rained, as Rowan pointed out, an occasional Wednesday and Friday when the school teams were supposed to practice.
Rowan
"Nice for us," said Rowan laconically. "Anyway, it looks fine today. You ought to get your run in the park this afternoon."
"We're not dogs," said Nicola with dignity.
"N-no," said Rowan doubtfully. "Though when you haven't combed your hair there's a distinct resemblance."
Marie
For standing up for Pomona, even though her entire year is against her.
Father
“Not bad,” commented their father, skimming the forms, “they mostly confine themselves to remarking that you've made a good start; and one good lady bursts into paeans of joy and says that Nicola mines with enthusiasm.”
Rowan:
“Character training,” said Karen and Rowan simultaneously; and Rowan continued laconically: “Redmond and Craven are great on it. They're always getting together and saying: Now, what about soandso? Lacks confidence in herself, doesn't she? Skips out of the way if she sees a ball within a mile of her. Good: let's stick her in the First Eleven!”
Ms Keith
Ms Keith looked up sharply.
"You mean that these stalls have been given to you because you are in Third Remove?" [...]
"What play had you in mind?"
Giles:
For dealing with the twins when they feel mobbed and for taking them seriously
Giles:
"O.K.," said GIles soothingly. "You be bad, then. And drop me a line every now and then. I'd like to know how you get on."
Ms Jennings
For helping the Third Remove with their backgrounds and being so supportive.
Ms Jennings
... and her attention to detail:
"Then you'd better make a separate wooden stand for your tavern sign and I'll draw you several different ones. I don't suppose many of the audience will notice, but it will amuse those who do."
Karen, Rowan
After the twins big triumph in the absolutely marvellous play:
Karen remarking with an air of detachment that one could never tell with Thirds - most of the time they were abysmal, and then, just occasionally, they brought off a quite amazing fluke; and Rowan laughed, offering a plate of sandwiches ("two only and no cakes until the visitors leave") and said they were superb,stupendous, colossal and all in glorious Technicolour;
Rowan
"[Tim] wrote it, too. At least, she called it "adapting" it. Like they do for films, you know."
"Did she?" said Rowan. "And what did you do with Cartwright while all this was going on? Lock her in the stationery cupboard?"
Karen
"No," said Nicola vaguely. "Tim just kept her off. She wasn't any bother."
Karen and Rowan looked at one another.
"Produced it -" said Rowan.
"Wrote it - " said Karen.
"Press-ganged Lois Sanger - "
"And saw that her form mistress gave no trouble," concluded Karen. "Next term someone had better keep a very special eye on T. Keith."
"Why?" asked Lawrie.
"Dangerous," said Karen, grinning at her father. "Organising ability highly developed. Too much spare time owing to present position in school. Highly explosive combination unless superfluous energy directed into constructive channels."
Rowan
"The Sixth are cutting sandwiches madly in the kitchen," said Rowan, carefully lowering two plates, piled high on the platform and giving Lois a stiff little smile which somehow managed to convey congratulation without liking. "So I thoguht you people had better have first pick. One lot's spam and the other's sandwich spread, but I've forgotten which is which."
Thrid remove, who had not, even in their most confident moments, supposed they would rise to the heights of being waited on by Rowan Marlow, murmured their thanks and looked overcome.
Lawrie and Ann in my book
I would have liked to take points from the twins at times, Lawrie's for being so annoying under stress and obsessing about the play to such a degree, but refrained from it because I did not really want anyone to have negative numbers. Otherwise Ann and Lawrie would probably have ended up with minus three points each in my book.
Crocky could sympathise with Lawrie's feelings about the play, but Ann probably still should have received a negative number for being such a hen.
So, the book is a real gem, as boarding school novels go, and I do not understand why the other instalments had to sink into obscurity that they are out of print while this one has become a classic.
